Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Education and Training) Share this | Hansard source

The member for Goldstein knows that what is driving these figures are the depleted stockpiles of iron ore in China and the fallout from the Brazil mine disaster, so it is incredibly disingenuous for the coalition government to claim credit for these trade surplus figures. The mine disaster in Brazil was a terrible tragedy that claimed the lives of almost 300 people when a tailings dam collapsed in January. Vale, the Brazilian mining company responsible, has just agreed to large compensation payments to the families of those killed. The Vale mine is currently out of production. It typically produces about 93 million tonnes of iron ore per year, or about six per cent of the seaborne iron ore market. In simple economics, as any Western Australian member would know, the decreasing supply of iron ore held at Chinese ports has also contributed to the lift in the price of Australian iron ore. There has been an increase of around 46 per cent in the benchmark price for a tonne of iron ore since the Brazilian disaster. So I would remind the member for Fairfax of that line from Donald Horne's book The Lucky Country: 'Australia is a lucky country run mainly by second-rate people who share its luck.' And I'm sure those close to the member for Fairfax personify that line.

Obviously, trade is critical to Australia's prosperity. As an island continent, we have enormous opportunities because we are located on the edge of the fastest-growing region of the world in human history. When it comes to trade agreements with Indonesia, Peru and Hong Kong, Labor will examine each of these trade deals before offering comment. Labor believes in trade, so we will look at these agreements through that prism. I note the comments of the member for Fremantle, in his speech earlier, about the benefits that trade produces for this nation. It is always important to protect our national interest, including when it comes to employment issues, obviously. The devil is always in the detail with any agreement, and trade agreements should be looked at very carefully. The member for Fairfax and I have looked at that, in terms of a longer term look by the parliament at such agreements. Hopefully that will come to fruition in this parliament as well. It is always important that we look at the agreement as a whole and look with a view to protecting Australia's interests. Labor has had some issues with the government's proposed free trade agreements in the past. Labor believes in trade, but having a commitment to being a trading nation does not mean you give away your sovereignty or that you don't examine each issue, particularly with regard to jobs being created here in Australia.

In the last parliament I was the Deputy Chair of the Trade Subcommittee of the Joint Standing Committee Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade, which was chaired by the member for Fairfax. We conducted an inquiry into access to free trade agreements. The report, From little things big things grow: supporting Australian SMEsgo global, was tabled back in February. It contained 10 recommendations to the government, including a recommendation 'that the Australian government makes its free trade agreements more user-friendly for Australian small and medium enterprises'. This is an important recommendation for Australian businesses, including some businesses in my electorate of Moreton who attended a committee roundtable and gave evidence to that inquiry. Thus far there has been no indication of a response from the Morrison-Frydenberg government to that report.

It is good news that we are seeing record trade surpluses, but the government can hardly claim that it is because of their economic management. Rather than trying to claim credit where it is not due, the government should actually concentrate on managing the economy. Let's have a look at the fact that engineering construction is down; new car sales are down; retail sales are down; wages are flatlining, and the coalition seem to have lost the defibrillators; productivity growth is mediocre, according to the actual Productivity Commission; and unemployment is a full percentage point higher than in Britain, the US and New Zealand. (Time expired)

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